A novel reconfigurable radiating plasma antenna array based on Yagi antenna technology

An electronically controlled plasma reflector antenna array is presented in term of Yagi antenna technology and plasma theory in this paper. The array comprised of a plasma symmetrical dipole in the center and 6 plasma column antennas uniformly around the dipole. When only the active plasma dipole and one of passive columns are energized, they perform like conductive metals capable to radiate radio signal like a two-element plasma Yagi antenna. Pattern reconfigurability of the antenna array can be achieved by sequentially exciting one of 6 plasma columns, and the plasma antenna array also produces better gain through increasing the number of plasma reflectors. Due to the adoption of equal amplitude and phase feeding technology, it greatly reduces the technical difficulty of the implementation of pattern reconfigurability. On the other hand, if all of plasma columns are off, there is only minor reflection from dielectric tubes, and hence, the plasma antenna array has stealth performance.